Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, released as Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ, Doragon Bōru Zetto) in Japan, is a fighting video game that was released for the PlayStation 2 in December 2002 in North America and for the Nintendo GameCube in North America on October 2003. The game was released in Japan by Bandai on the PlayStation 2 in February 13, 2003, while the Nintendo GameCube release was brought out near the end of the year, on November 28, 2003. It was developed by Dimps and published by Atari. As the GameCube version was released almost a year after the PlayStation 2 version, the opportunity was taken to improve the graphics using cel-shading. Gameplay Battle The objective of each battle is to deplete your opponent's health bar. Battles take place on a 2.5D plane, where characters may move around. To unleash super attacks, characters must use up a certain number of Ki bars on the Ki gauge. Characters can also transform, where they gain super attacks and increased strength. Skills Each character can be optionally customized by using a 7-slot skill tray; players may choose up to 7 skills and assign them to the fighter of their choice. Some skills can take up multiple slots. Skills may be purchased from Mr. Popo with the prize money from the World Tournament mode. There are three types of skills: Special Moves, which include skills such as the Kamehameha and the ability to become Super Saiyan; Physical, which includes such skills as Zanku Fist; and Equipment, which includes skills such as the Senzu Bean. One can also purchase Dragon Balls, and when you have all of them, Oolong appears and summons Shenron, giving the player a choice of 3 Breakthrough capsules; these allow a player to use all of a character's moves and abilities at once at the cost of every slot in the skill tray. Story Mode The Story Mode consists of 3D cutscenes adapted from the series (though more close to the manga than the anime). Unlike later Budokai games, the story mode is similar to most other fighting games (in which cutscenes occur between battles). The story mode covers 3 Sagas - Saiyan, Namekian, Android - and the player automatically collects capsules (or sometimes Dragon Balls and characters) at the end of each battle. Also, more levels are unlocked during a second playthrough. At the end of every saga there are bonus "what if" episodes, and one plays as the main villain of that saga; Vegeta, Frieza and Cell respectively. *In Vegeta's storyline, "Vegeta, Saiyan Prince", Vegeta and Goku duel, and Vegeta defeats him with minimum effort, driven by the desire to avenge Nappa. Then Krillin and Gohan turn up, and Vegeta beats them separately. After the battle, Vegeta speaks to himself for a minute while Yajirobe sneaks up behind him. Vegeta hears Yajirobe, and, impressed by Yajirobe's bravery, offers him to become his next pupil. Yajirobe refuses, stating that he does not want to end up like Nappa. Infurirated at being reminded of Nappa's death, Vegeta goes a Super Saiyan in anger. The episode ends. *In Frieza's storyline, "Raging Frieza/The True Ruler", Frieza successfully beats Krillin, Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Goku in battle. He then succeeds in wishing for immortality. Blowing up Namek, Frieza returns to his spaceship, deciding to destroy Earth next. The episode ends. *In Cell's storyline, "Aim For Perfect Form!/A Cold Blooded Assassin", Cell attempts to absorb 17 and 18, and successfully beats 16 in battle. He then absorbs 17, but while attempting to absorb 18 Krillin jumps in the way, causing Cell to accidentally absorbs Krillin and lose a lot of power (Cell battles Krillin first, though). Yamcha and Tien then show up to challenge the weakened Cell. He just manages to beat Yamcha, but he is then killed by Tien. The real Cell then wakes up in the middle of the Cell Ring, realizing that it was a dream. He then says that ten days may have been too long to wait for the tournament. The episode ends. World Tournament The World Tournament allows players to compete against a computer-controlled character in a Martial Arts Tournament. The Prizes can be the following: *Novice: 10,000 Zeni *Adept: 30,000 Zeni *Advance: 50,000 Zeni Dueling Dueling mode allows a player to fight a computer-controlled character at a preset skill level, or two human players to fight each other using any custom skills. A player may also watch a fight between two computer-controlled fighters. Legend of Hercule Legend of Hercule is an optional mode unlocked through capsules. In this mode, players control Hercule as he defeats several opponents, arcade-style. Some fights have special conditions, such as only using your Ki to attack, or defeating your opponent within a time limit. The final opponent is Perfect Cell. Sequels There are three sequels released to this game, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (Dragon Ball Z 2 V), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, and Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World. The game Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi in Japan, released in fall 2005, is not a true sequel to the Budokai series; it was developed by Spike instead of Dimps and features a radically different fighting engine. In its home country of Japan it is known as Dragon Ball Z Sparking!, but was renamed for worldwide release to capitalize on the popularity of the Budokai brand. A sequel to Budokai Tenkaichi was released on October 2006 release in Japan under the title Dragon Ball Z Sparking! Neo and was also released in the U.S. as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2. Later, on November 2007, under the name of Dragonball Z: Sparking! METEOR, and was also released in the U.S (and other places), as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Characters Playable characters *Android 16 *Android 17 *Android 18 *Android 19 *Captain Ginyu *Cell (Base, Second Form, Perfect Form, Perfect Form Power Weighted) *Dodoria *Frieza (Base, Final Form, 100% Final Form, Mecha-Frieza) *Goku (Base, Kaioken x2, Kaioken x5, Kaioken x10, Super Saiyan) *Great Saiyaman *Hercule (Base, Hi-Tension) *Kid Gohan (Base, Unlock Potential) *Krillin (Base, Unlock Potential) *Nappa *Piccolo (Base, Sync With Nail, Fuse With Kami) *Raditz *Recoome *Teen Gohan (Base, Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2) *Tien Shinhan *Trunks (Base, Super Saiyan, Super Trunks, Super Trunks 2) *Vegeta (Base, Super Saiyan, Super Vegeta) *Yamcha *Zarbon (Base, Monster Form) Unplayable/Story-only character/costumes This ones are characters or costumes that only appear in Story Mode as the controlled character or as an enemy. They are not playable in any other mode. *Android 19 (Kicked Face) – Unplayable costume *Cellin – Story-only character *Cell Jr. – Unplayable character *Goku (General Vest: Alternate Turtle Hermit Symbol) – Story-only costume *Goku (General Vest: King Kai Symbol) – Story-only costume *Goku (Damaged General Vest) – Story-only costume *Goku (General Vest) – Story-only costume *Goku (Scouter) – Unplayable costume *Nappa (Armorless) – Unplayable costume *Recoome (Armorless: Damaged) – Unplayable costume *Saibaman – Unplayable character *Vegeta (Scouter) – Story-only costume *Vegeta (Rit Armor) – Story-only costume Battle Stages *Cell Games Ring *Planet Namek *Valley Plains *World Tournament Stage *Grassland *Hyperbolic Time Chamber *Wasteland *Islands *Kami's Lookout Voice cast The North American version contains the voices from the FUNimation Dub of the anime series, with all other localised versions containing the original Japanese dub with subtitles. Reception The game has received less than favorable reviews; many critics complained about its simple interface and the fact that combos were not worth the payoff. Some even complained about the graphics. The game has received a 68% on Game Rankings. Prima's Official Strategy Guide The strategy guide was released in 2002. In the book it went into a rather in-depth walkthrough, fighting machinics, character biographies and rarity of all the capsules. Despite this the guide had many problems such as Yamcha's and Hercule's hair being different from the anime (the latter is seen in various pictures with his afro). Several ultimates were skipped such as Gohan's Super Kamehameha, Piccolo's Hellzone Grenade and Goku's Warp Kamehameha. Even transformations were skipped and Piccolo's were misspelled. There was also a Limited Edtion DVD with an Episode of GT, Yu Yu Hakusho and several trailers. The book also gave a very small preview to Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu while the DVD featured an entire "sizzle" video. 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